Stratford's mayor was as surprised as anyone when it was announced this week that the the London to Toronto GO train will end this fall.
"I didn't see that coming," Martin Ritsma told StratfordToday.
Ritsma had met with Caroline Mulroney, the provincial government's transportation minister, in November, and that conversation, which included discussion about rail service, was positive.
Metrolinx’s arrangement to operate service between London and Toronto, which includes stops in Stratford and St. Marys, was established with CN and VIA Rail Canada to operate with the existing infrastructure, including tracks and stations, a GO transit statement said this week.
The arrangement will end and Metrolinx will no longer have access to the infrastructure.
Ritsma said the decision "certainly does impact" Stratford, whether it's residents commuting to work or for recreational activities in other centres, or providing another way for tourists to get to the Festival City. University students in Stratford are also impacted, he said.
The pilot project that started in October of 2021 saw one train leave London each morning and another return each evening during the week.
Ritsma said he has been in touch with St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee and hopes they can meet with Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae to discuss rail service.
"I am looking forward to getting together with both of those individuals."
Ritsma has also reached out to VIA Rail Canada president and CAO Mario Péloquin to start a conversation.
VIA Rail service continues at the Stratford train station and in St. Marys.
"It is a very unfortunate turn of events," Strathdee said. "We had great hopes that the service would grow and ridership would increase. It is a real blow to our region. The politics of rail service needs to get sorted out by the federal government and priority needs to be given to passenger rail service."
Ritsma said rail and other public transit needs to be an option for residents in a world of ever expanding car traffic. The city and its residents play a part in combating greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, and public transit helps that, he said.
"We need to change people's mindsets. It has been a couple of generations now who don't want to travel by train. You go to Europe, that's the way they do it."
Past decisions have steered the conversation and funding away from rail service, he noted.
"We are trying to catch up on that now. It will take time and money to build up ridership but in the long run that will pay dividends for carbon emissions and traffic congestion."
The City of Stratford has invested significantly in public transit in recent years for a new bus shelter and a battery-powered bus fleet.
The PC Connect public transit service also provides transportation throughout Perth County, Stratford, St. Marys, Kitchener/Waterloo and London, via provincial government funding.
Ritsma said there is a possibility that VIA Rail brings back past train routes from before the Pandemic and he is keen to seek more information on that.
"We have to build that threshold again so it is a viable product that people use. Like our PC Connect. It is going to be challenging to maintain that without a partnership with the province. If it is a reasonable amount of money, people will get on the bus and the train and travel that way."
"I am hoping that I can have conversations with Matthew Rae and GO and VIA to see what they are planning on doing."
Rae provided a statement to StratfordToday: “Following the suspension of VIA Rail service between London and Toronto, our government stepped up to provide GO train service on a pilot basis in Fall 2021. The pilot program will be coming to an end in October and Metrolinx will no longer have access to the tracks.
"It is disappointing that this GO train service will not continue."
Rae said he continues to advocate for local rural transportation funding, whether that is the PC Connect Bus, or other methods of transportation.